SDSU will 'incubate' student entrepreneurs

San Diego businessman Irwin Zahn has donated $700,000 to San Diego State University’s College of Engineering for an on-campus “incubator” where students will be able to turn their ideas into working companies.

The Zahn Center will guide teams comprising engineering, technology and business students as they turn their concepts into business plans and then connect with venture capitalists and go to market.

“San Diego was built by entrepreneurial spirit, by people like Irwin Zahn,” SDSU President Elliot Hirshman said in a prepared statement. “Our students have brilliant ideas and they need support to turn these ideas into successful businesses. The Zahn Center will be the place where this happens; a place where ideas become companies which, in turn, drive our economic recovery forward.”

The director of the center will be Richard Kerr, a longtime entrepreneur with SDSU degrees in physics and electrical engineering.

“There are so many creative people that, if just given an opportunity and a little guidance, will change the world,” Zahn said in a statement. “We want to make that happen right here in San Diego, at SDSU.”

Though not an alumnus, Zahn is a member of the College of Engineering Dean’s Advisory Board. His San Diego-based company, Autosplice, has employed dozens of SDSU engineering alumni.

Prospective teams, which must include at least one current SDSU student, must enter the Zahn Incubator Challenge. (The entry deadline for the first class has passed.).

Three winning teams will split $25,000 in prize money donated by Zahn.

The entries will be judged by industry experts and the awards will be announced March 17.

Once accepted, teams will have 18-24 months in the center to get their companies off the ground.

“Like the real world, their companies have to get to a point where they are a viable option for venture funding,” Kerr said in a statement.